There are multiple decisions that must be made prior to configuring your first desktop pool. These choices will have an impact on your infrastructure and how your virtual desktops work, which is why they must be considered in advance.

Horizon can provision three different desktop types: Horizon Composer-linked clones, Instant Clones, and full clones. From the perspective of an end user, each of these desktop types looks exactly the same, although their underlying configuration is quite different. The master image for both is prepared using the same tuning techniques discussed in Chapter 10, Creating a Master Virtual Desktop Image, but how that image is used differs greatly based on the type of desktop you choose to deploy.

Deciding on what type of clone type to use is not an easy task. While instant and linked clones have some definite advantages, which I will describe in detail, to maintain that advantage you must adopt new ways of performing desktop maintenance.